One of the best ideas put forward by the two is that spiritual development is only one kind of human development. Reaching the apex of spiritual realization doesn't mean you've wiped out all of the personal problems that might plague you in other areas of your life. (Indeed, some highly realized people are, as one of my friends noted, "real space cadets" when it comes to their daily routine.) Surya Das puts it best when he refers to the view of spiritual realization as total perfection as an "ascending" view. "It's the idea of 'Heaven'," he says, "as opposed to 'Heaven on Earth'."